Simply Put the Excepted Benefit HRA Has Much More to Offer
It has been a full year since the Excepted Benefit HRA has been available for businesses. Unlike the name suggests, the EBHRA offers much more than just the reimbursement of “excepted benefits” in ways of INTEGRATION, DESIGN, & ELIGIBILITY.
The BASE® Excepted Benefit HRA (EBHRA) allows employers, who offer a group health plan, to reimburse employees an additional $1,800 for premiums paid towards excepted benefits that are not included in a traditional group health plan. Some excepted benefits are COBRA, dental, vision, short-term medical plans, and other qualifying out-of-pocket medical expenses.
The BASE® EBHRA is available to businesses of ALL sizes looking to maximize tax benefits for their business while expanding the benefit package for their employees. This HRA is for employees that have been offered the employer-sponsored group health plan but are not required to enroll to participate in the EBHRA.
In 3 ways the EBHRA offers more:
INTEGRATION:
While other HRAs, such as the Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) and Integrated HRA, must integrate with either an individual health insurance plan or the employer-sponsored group health plan, the EBHRA does not. The sponsoring employer MUST OFFER the EBHRA in conjunction with the employer-sponsored group health plan, however, the employees are not required to enroll in the group health plan to participate in the EBHRA.
Simply put, if the employer wants to provide the EBHRA to their employees, they must offer an employer-sponsored group health plan. It is up to their employees if they want to participate or not.
DESIGN:
The EBHRA is designed for uniform availability meaning it must be offered on the same terms and conditions to all eligible employees. The employer gets to determine what expenses to reimburse and how much will be reimbursed up-to the maximum of $1,800 (indexed for inflation) per plan year to employees.
Simply put, the employer must provide the EBHRA to all employees, but can choose how much they will provide up-to $1,800.
ELIGIBILITY:
Final regulations leave the assumption that the employees eligible for the EBHRA must be eligible to enroll in the employer-sponsored health plan, even if they choose not to.
Simply put, the employees must be eligible for the employer-sponsored group health plan, but do not need to enroll to take advantage of the tax savings with the EBHRA.
With the EBHRA, we want you to experience the BASE® Difference! With BASE®, employers will have an additional way to maximize their tax benefits for the business and their employees, by providing a tax-free means of paying for COBRA, Short-Term Limited Duration Insurance, and Excepted Benefit Insurance and/or IRC Section 213(d) medical expenses. Employees will have up-to an additional $1,800, tax-free, to apply towards these benefits.
Simply put, the EBHRA can offer benefits to both the employer and employee, allowing both to maximize their tax savings. For more information, call BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com.
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